Economics
The eurozone’s new chief banking regulator says that weak banks should be allowed to fail. It has said that some of the region’s lenders have no future and should be allowed to die, heralding a far tougher approach to supervision across the currency bloc. (Cover of the FT)

The Bank of England is going to give guidance on Wednesday on how quickly interest rates will rise in Britain’s rapidly growing economy. After Mark Carney, bank governor, signalled that the BoE would move away from linking rate rises to unemployment, its Monetary Policy Committee has been considering how to provide clarity to markets without jeopardising growth. Many economists think the bank will use its scheduled quarterly Inflation Report to build on recent utterances indicating there is “no immediate need” to raise rates and that monetary policy will be tightened “gradually”. They also believe the bank will broaden its analysis to include other economic data beyond unemployment, probably including wages and underemployment. (p.2 of FT)

New research from the Business Trends survey, produced by accountancy firm BDO suggests that interest rates could rise in the “very near future”. The report states that business optimism reached record levels in January, signalling rapid economic growth over the next two quarters (p.B4 of The Daily Telegraph)

The Chairmen of Britain’s leading retailers have become significantly more optimistic about the prospects for the economy and have performed a dramatic U-turn on the performance of the government. According to the fourth annual survey of chairmen by headhunter Korn Ferry, 73% of chairmen are optimistic about the outlook for the economy, compared with just 15% last year. (p.B1 of The Daily Telegraph)

Personal Finance
Young people are bearing the burden of increasing levels of debt, according to a poll that shows how the older generation are escaping the squeeze in incomes. People in their 20s and 30s face a stark choice between “putting their lives on hold or racking up substantial debt”, according to the Demos thinktank that commissed the poll. The Populus poll of 1,775 adults found that more than half (55%) of those aged 18 to 24 – and 48% of those aged 25 to 34 – say their debts have increased over the past five years. This compares with a 13% rise for those aged over 65. (p.10 of The Guardian)

Property
Four in every 10 London homes sold for more than £1m last year were bou8ght by foreign buyers, according to new research. The number of homes being sold for more than £1m in Greater London rose to 6,145, up 20% on 2012. The research, from aviation firm Beechcraft Corporation, claims non-British buyers spent a combined £5.1bn on London properties (p.14 of The Independent)

House prices are likely to continue rising for at least another ten years, George Osborne suggested yesterday when he attacked “Nimbys” for slowing down planning reforms – reported on the front page of The Times by Sam Coates, Philip Aldrick and Francis Elliott. The Chancellor told peers that the shortage of housing was an historic problem as he stressed that the coalition was trying to boost supply as well as providing cheaper home loans to struggling families. “I imagine if we were to assemble again in ten years’ time, we would still be talking about the challenge of making sure that our housing supply keeps up with demand,” he told the House of Lords Economics Affairs Committee. Mr Osborne defended the Help to Buy policy in the face of criticism from Liberal Democrats such as Vince Cable, who suggested last week reducing the maximum home purchase of £600,000.

Personal Finance

While The Sun’s leader is dedicated to energy prices, the Daily Mail looks at miss-selling of superfluous insurance against credit card fraud along with a brief history of miss-selling scandals – from pensions mis-selling scandal, endowment mortgages, and Payment Protection Insurance to interest-rate swap loans and packaged bank accounts. Some 7 million customers of banks such as Barclays, Santander and RBS have been conned into paying up to £1.3billion for policies they don’t need – Lloyds is now implicated as well. The Mail says “though the products mis-sold may have varied, one mystery endures. Why, after this long history of deception and grand larceny, has not a single senior banker been hauled before the courts?…. This fraud won’t cease until the guilty are behind bars.”

Property

Prince Charles has waded into the battle for residents of Somerset according to the front page of The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Mail. The Mirror and the Daily Telegraph are unlikely bedfellows but not only do they also put Charles’ criticism of the official response to the crisis on the front page – they also run editorials on it. Although it was not overtly political, the Daily Telegraph compared the Prince’s visit (he was greeted warmly) to that of Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, who was met with placards and jeers. The Telegraph says the visit “reminded us in what low regard quangocrats – such as the mysteriously absent Chris Smith, who runs the Environment Agency – are held.” The Mirror’s Leader piece, on the other hand says the Prince of Wales criticising the disastrously slow response… “is a royal seal of disapproval on David Cameron’s Government”.

Recruitment

The Daily Express says “Britain’s overstretched public services are nearing breaking point” blaming immigration. “One in four babies born in this country have a mother who comes from outside the UK, while Afghan and Somali women are having four or more children, more than twice the national average. They will… need medical care before, during and after the birth… and that’s before the needs of schooling and housing even enter the equation…. This simply has got to stop. The Prime Minister has talked grandiosely about bringing net migration figures into the tens of thousands (and even that would be too much in this overcrowded little isle) and yet it has been revealed that net migration from the EU rose to 106,000 in the year ending June 2013, up from 72,000 the previous year. And that was before immigration controls on people arriving from Eastern Europe were lifted in January. Labour’s stance on immigration was one of the wickedest policies it pursued in its 13 years of office, a course of action foisted on the electorate for utterly cynical reasons which has changed the face of this country for ever.” The Express concludes, “Mr Cameron must act to stem further damage. And fast.”

A new planning court will fast-track large scale developments under plans to beat costly legal challenges. Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling is to put forward the measures which include a stipulation that only groups with a financial interest can lodge a complaint. Judicial review applications more than doubled between 2000 and 2012, leading to concerns that major projects are being held up.

PF

The state pension is to rise by around £1,000 by the end of the decade as the Lib Dems agree to the triple lock pledge. They are the last of the three major parties to do so, guaranteeing a rise of around £20 per week. The National Pensioners’ Convention welcomed the news but expressed dismay that the consumer price index is used, rather than the retail price index which is higher.

Economics/Corporate

The public could be offered the chance to buy shares in Lloyd’s banking group as early as next month in a surprise announcement ahead of its results. Six per cent of the bank has already been sold to institutional investors but the chancellor is expected to authorise the sale of a larger part of the government’s 33% stake to both institutional investors and the public. Ian King in the Times comments that Ed Miliband’s recent promise to tackle a lack of competition in the banking market may affect the price, and should be given space in the retail prospectus.

Recruitment

The Association of Graduate Recruiters predicts a rise of 10.2% in vacancies for the coming recruitment round, following a rise of 4.3% last year. The biggest rises were in IT and Telecoms, the public sector, energy companies and banking and the financial sector.